Companion Encyclopedia of Archaeology

by Barker,Graeme; Barker,Graeme

• ISBN13: 9780415064484
• ISBN10: 0415064481
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781134921935
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-08-03
• Publisher: Routledge
• More Book Details

Summary

The 26 articles in this newCompanion Encyclopediaprovide an invaluable compendium of the themes, issues and background of this popular, but complex field. This two-volume set offers definitive coverage of the field as a whole, and is divided into three thematic sections: Part I--Origins, aims and methods * Features articles on the history and theory of the discipline, and the techniques used in the study of archaeological evidence. Part II Problems and approaches * Examines how archaeologists approach such themes as culture, identity, society, territory, population and beliefs across the traditional boundaries of period and place. Part III--The development of human society * Integrates the concerns which are addressed in the previous two sections and draws together the methods and approaches in studying hunter-gatherer societies, developing models for state formation, examining medieval demographic trends, and understanding early modern andindustrial societies. Academics in archaeology and related disciplines, field archaeologists, undergraduate and postgraduate students, amateur archaeologists and the informed general reader will all find this a fascinating and useful reference tool.

Table of Contents

Origins, aims and methods

Discovering the past

The development of archeological theory: explaining the past

The nature of archeological evidence

Field archeology

Establishing archeological chronologies

Reconstructing environment and landscape

Studying People

Studying structures

Studying artefacts

Preserving and presenting the evidence

Themes and approaches

Culture and identity

The organization of society

Settlement and territory

Food and farming

Production and exchange in prehistory

Production and exchange in historical archeology

Population, health and disease

Cognition, thought, ideas and beliefs

Writing Archaeological History

Human evolution

Hunter-gatherer societies

Early agricultural societies

The development of rank societies

Urbanization and state formation

The development of empires

Post-collapse societies

Europe in the Middle Ages

The archeology of Islam

The archaeology of the modern state: European colonialism

The archaeology of industrialisation

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